Groaning, I flop back on the bed. “How many times do I have to tell you there was no point? She would have just said no. And then she’d be all suspicious about everything I ask if I can do forever. It’s better for us both if I don’t ask about Tahoe and snowboarding.”

He zips closed his bag. “So what are you going to do for two weeks without me?”

I make a face. “Hang with Zoe.” I turn onto my side, lifting a brow. “What are you going to do for two weeks without me? Run to Caroline’s rescue every time she has an emergency on the slopes?”

He clenches his jaw. “Stop it, Kaley.”

Fine, it was a shitty joke.

I need to let up on poking at him over her.

I stare up at him, eyes wide. “Are you going to miss me?”

He sinks down on the bed, letting out a ragged sigh. “You know I am.”

“Then why don’t you stay?”

He kisses me. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you go?”

Back to square one.

No point in telling him again that I can’t.

His phone beeps. He fishes it from his pocket and reads a text. “Jake’s here.”

Bobby starts gathering up his shit. Fuck, I don’t want him to go, but he’s going to go and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it. I don’t know why he’s being so stubborn about this. He should want to stay with me.

We walk to the driveway and Bobby tosses his junk into the back of Jake’s Explorer.

He drapes his arms over my shoulders, kissing me long before he climbs into the passenger seat.

My fingers curl around his open window. “Text me every night and every morning.”

He brushes my cheek with a thumb. “I’ll be texting you more than that and you know it. I hope you change your mind and fly up. It’s not going to be any fun without you.”

I pout. “I can’t.”

He nods.

Jake leans forward around Bobby. “See ya, Kaley. Keep Zoe out of trouble for me.”

I laugh and step back from the vehicle. The ignition turns over and they start driving down the road. Fuck, I can’t believe Bobby really went without me.

I climb into my car, text Zoe to see if she wants to meet up later, and then head for home. I pull into my driveway and my stomach does a flip.

Alan’s back.

Black Mercedes parked by the garage, blocking me so I can’t get in.

My fingers curl around the steering wheel and I stare at his car, anxious but now depressed. Fuck, I should have gone to Tahoe instead of sticking around for my mom. Jeez, I wish my mom would talk to me about things so I’d know what’s going on instead of always trying to read the vibe she’s putting out. But no. That would be too simple. And crap, I could have gone—Bobby was right—because everything is hunky-dory in Chrissie’s world and I shouldn’t have doubted for a moment it would be.

Chrissie gets everything she wants, always.

I climb from the car and cut through the backyard, entering the house through the patio doors. Krystal is on the family room floor clad in her pink tights doing her post-ballet stretches. Ethan and Eric are playing video games. I don’t see mom or Alan and it’s quiet.

Oh yuck, I hope that doesn’t mean they’re—

“Hello.”

I whirl and my heart stops.

What the fuck is she doing here? I stare in disbelief as the little college girl from Alan’s house drops a laundry basket with a loud thump on the kitchen island.

“Where’s my mom?” I ask.

The girl brushes her hair back from her face and tucks the loose strands into her ponytail. “In the studio working. She asked not to be disturbed.” She gives me a pointed smile. “You’re Kaley, right? I just started working here today. I’m Aarsi.”

Oh fuck, what the hell is going on here?

Leave for two hours and shit goes down.

I watch her fold and fluff, neatly stacking Khloe’s little duds into organized piles.

“Yep, I’m Kaley.”

She nods. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” And then her gaze locks on mine in an intense, meaning-filled stare before she scoops up the finished laundry and sets it in the basket.

OK, she didn’t bust me and for some reason she doesn’t want me saying anything either. That’s a win. I can work with that.

I watch her leave. The second she’s gone from the room I drop down on the floor beside Krystal.

“What’s going on?”

Krystal slowly rolls her upper body back and gracefully straightens. She lets out a slow breath. “What’s going on about what?”

“What is Aarsi doing here?”

Her brows crinkle. “She’s the new nanny. Showed up this morning—pouf, like Mary Poppins out of nowhere. I didn’t even know Mom was hiring a nanny.”

Oh fuck. Mom didn’t.

Krystal’s gaze sharpens. “Why are you so freaked out about it?”

Crap, what did I let slip onto my face?

“I’m not.”

“Good. Mom seems happy. And Aarsi is kind of fun. Are you going to the beach with us? Mom wants her to take all of us, except Khloe, to the beach and then Grandma’s for the night.”

Chrissie is shipping us off overnight.

I search the house again.

“Is Alan here?”

Krystal shakes her head.

I spring to my feet and make my way down the hallway toward the studio. Mom asked not to be interrupted, but I open the door anyway. No one at the soundboard. Chrissie is alone behind the glass seated at the piano, chewing on a pencil and staring at the sheets lying in front of her.

I pause for a moment, watching her. She’s writing music again. When did that start? And Krystal’s right. She looks happy. Happy enough that she might even let me go to Tahoe if I ask.

I go through the soundproof door and cross to the far side of the room. I drop down on the couch and sigh.

Chrissie looks up. “Well, that was dramatic, baby girl. What’s wrong?”

I comb the hair from my face with my fingers. “Bobby left for Tahoe today. He’ll be gone two weeks.”

She sets down her pencil, lays her arms on the piano, and studies me. “Why Tahoe?”

“Snowboarding with his friends.”

My mom’s brows hitch up—oh fuck, I shouldn’t have said that—and then she smiles. “Snowboarding again. A lot of that going around lately.”

I tense. I was delusional to think even for a moment that asking her to go would be a good thing. And why does it feel like my mom knows about Thanksgiving, and if she’s going to bust me, why can’t she just do it?

She grabs the pencil and starts tapping it on the wood. “Why didn’t you ask to go?”

I lift a brow. “You would have said no.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But you don’t know because you didn’t ask. In fact, you’ve pretty much stopped talking to me about everything.”

I flush. “That’s not true. I’m talking to you now.”

Chrissie drops her gaze first. She focuses on rearranging her papers. “You can go to Tahoe if you want to. That is why you’re talking to me today. You want to go snowboarding with Bobby.”

I flush. “What? I didn’t even ask if I could go.”

Chrissie lifts her chin. “You’re just trying to work up to it. Trying to decide whether to be honest or tell me a fib. I’d rather we talked honestly about the things you do so I know where you are than have you sneaking around lying to me.”

Oh fuck. She does know.

It was a mistake to come in here.

I go to the piano and settle on the bench beside her. “I’m not sneaking around. I’m not doing anything. I don’t want to go Tahoe.”

“Well, I want you to know you can if you want to.”

“I don’t!”

Crap, this is stupid.

How does she make me feel like I’ve been doing something wrong when I’m not doing anything she wasn’t doing at my age?

I stand. “I’ve got to go. I’m meeting Zoe. We’re going to the movies. Is it all right if I stay over at her house tonight?”

Chrissie’s gaze changes, doe-eyed hurt and worried. “It’s all right to stay the night. Just text me later if you decide to. And try to remember, you can talk to me any time you want to, baby girl.”